


Remedial Chaos Theory

by blessedharlot



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Battle, Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Cliffhangers, F/M, Infinity War Speculation, Reveal, Speculation, reversed death, story fragments, story inserts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-10 01:32:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 6,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11681232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blessedharlot/pseuds/blessedharlot
Summary: Each chapter of this story is a separate, self-contained BuckyNat reunion subplot for insertion into Avengers: Infinity War. I’m focusing here on reveals that aren’t a major plot point, so 1-3 minutes of screentime total.This format is experimental for me. As stories, these are incomplete by their very nature, and are set in unpolished contexts. I can’t write a dozen different Infinity War plots - at least not this month! Think of these as footage from movies that-could-be... jumping off points to hold on to while we wait. Feel free to savor and expand upon any way you like.Enjoy!EDIT: The quick scenarios are now complete! I have some longer ideas that I couldn't wrangle into place here. They may show up later. :-)





	1. Aspirations

**Author's Note:**

> The name of this compilation - Remedial Chaos Theory - is borrowed from an episode of the TV show "Community," where the separate timelines of later seasons were established with a roll of the dice.
> 
> Content Note: “Idiot” is a pet name comics!Nat uses for Bucky. It appears in three chapters here: A Name, Not Ready and Idiot.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one's alternatively Road Trip Confessionals. Let's give Steve and Bucky some time to get reacquainted while they work!

We discover early in the story that Fury has been gathering intel on Thanos, and he’s already put several Avengers into play in preparation for a fight.

In a scene soon after, Steve and Bucky are introduced in a car, with Steve driving.

They chat briefly about details of their current mission. Their conversation explains where they’ve been the last few months, what they’re doing for Fury and why. Bucky’s new arm and new stability is mentioned. Wakanda clearly fixed his word trigger for him.

After that exposition, they keep chatting.

“Buck,” Steve declares with a smile. “I know we’re busy, I know it’s rough going. But sometimes…”

Steve dramatically shakes his head and smiles.

“I see the world speed by us, I hear you laugh at my bad jokes, and it feels like we’re 15 again, headed out to Coney Island! Me with a black eye, you having just pulled some big kid off me. The two of us without a care.”

Bucky is silent for several seconds. He has what could almost be called a wince on his face.

“Steve,” he says quietly. “You gotta know I’m not that guy anymore.”

“No, I know that, Buck,” Steve says sympathetically.

“I don’t know about that,” Bucky says. “You’ve got your speech voice on. You want me to join you there, at that age. And I can’t.”

“Bucky, I understand that,” Steve replies gently. “I’m not trying to erase anything.”

Bucky gives him a piercing stare.

Steve purses his lips together and runs a hand through his hair. He brings his volume down.

“Look. You know me,” Steve says. “I look for inspiration. Aspirations. Always.”

Steve gives a quick, studious glance at Bucky, who isn’t looking at him anymore.

“With so much changed,” Steve says, “I just…”

Steve takes a deep breath and looks thoughtful.

“When I feel lost,” Steve explains. “When I close my eyes, and I look for my best self… well. I usually end up thinking about my mom, actually. And who she wanted me to be.”

Bucky gives a small smile.

“I’m just… looking for options for you, Buck. Reminding you of what’s good about yourself. In case it’s useful. In case you need the reminder.”

“There was a girl,” Bucky says abruptly. His voice is quiet, but resonant. He keeps looking out the passenger side window.

Steve is stunned into silence.

“There was a girl,” Bucky repeats. “For a while.”

He gazes ahead of them, unfocused, and nods. Steve holds his breath and waits.

Bucky stares at his lap a while, and works his jaw.

He looks up again before any words come out. He seems to push the words past some distress.

“With her, I felt… human. I felt like something mattered. Besides the killing.”

Bucky’s voice eventually softens.

“She was good,” he says lovingly.

He looks out the window again.

“I’m never gonna be that other guy again, Steve” Bucky says with certainty. “But the man I was with her…”

He clenches his jaw and nods.

“I try to be that again,” he says.

Steve slowly starts breathing again. Eventually he nods… at first slowly, and then emphatically. He searches for words, and finally finds some.

“Is she still alive?” Steve asks gently.

Bucky cocks his head and winces.

“Steve…”

“That’s not a no, Buck,” he replies. “Is she Hydra?” he asks gravely.

Bucky stares ahead of them.

“It’s complicated, Steve.”

Steve opens his mouth again, but the angle at which Bucky shakes his head stops his words.

Steve takes a breath. And then another.

Finally, his eyes get watery and he nods again. His voice swells back to near its previous declaration levels.

“Well then,” Steve nods. “Good. We all need aspirations.”

Bucky looks at him and rolls his eyes.

 

-=-=-=-=

 

Lots of events come to pass. It's much later, and Thanos is coming at them mercilessly.

Several Avengers stand in a room and discuss strategy.

Bucky rejoins the group after receiving intelligence from a scout. In his absence, Nat has joined them. She stands a conversational distance away from Steve with her back to Bucky, and with her blond hair he doesn’t realize it’s her.

During a lull, Bucky launches into sharing his intel with Steve, and by extension the rest of the room.

He is only a few words short of relaying it entirely when she turns around, and he immediately recognizes her.

He stops cold partway through his last sentence. Most of the rest of the room begins discussing the intelligence, and what to do with it.

No one else notices the look of shock and emotion on Bucky’s face, except Steve. Nat is unreadable.

Steve soon looks like he’s trying not to cry.

Soon Nat has volunteered herself for a mission.

“That’s a two person job,” Steve says.

“Barnes can back me up,” Nat offers, as she gives Bucky a mild glance.

Bucky looks deeply confused. But he nods.

They pursue and complete the mission, successfully protecting each other, making no reference to anything but their work.


	2. Idiot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a blink and you'll miss it reveal... nearly Easter egg sized. It's guaranteed to leave unsuspecting audience-goers in shock!

It wasn’t Sam’s knock. But Bucky had a feeling he knew who it would be… and the flash of familiar eyes through the peephole confirmed it.

He swung the shabby hotel room door open and an angry fist immediately landed square on his nose.

“You’re an idiot for not coming to me with this!” Nat opened the conversation pouring out cold, quiet rage.

Bucky stood dumbfounded as she pushed past him to let herself in, slamming the door shut.

“Steve’s been missing for three weeks, Sam said!” Nat managed to yell while keeping her tone in check. “And you’ve got some kind of evidence locked on a flash drive, and you don’t come find me?”

Bucky held his nose and stared, shocked at her ridiculous statement. “I was supposed to come find you? After the last two times I came and found you?”

“You didn’t want to do that,” she said in an angry but kind tone. “You think I don’t know that you didn’t want to do that?”

Bucky scoffed and held his head, unsure if he was laughing or crying. “Natalia-”

She faced the unfinished business head on.

“You left me alive in Odessa,” she said.

It took Bucky a stumbling moment to respond.

“With a three inch hole in your gut,” he said.

“I was alive. And you left me that way.”

Bucky hesitated, and frowned. “You weren’t the mission.”

“I was a witness. And a traitor to Russia. You would have had orders to make sure I was dead on sight.”

“You were as good as dead.”

“That excuse keep you from being punished?”

Bucky was silent.

“You might not have known why you did it,” Nat said, the fight in her words beginning to fade. “But you walked away with me still breathing…” Her voice cracked. “... knowing exactly what you’d walk back into as retribution for that choice you made. Didn’t you?”

Bucky struggled to breathe.

“Odessa doesn’t matter,” he whispered. “Not after you and Steve. in D.C. I was gonna finish that job.”

“They had to wipe you again. To forget me better.”

“Well, it worked,” Bucky said grimly. “Didn’t it?”

“That’s not the point.” Natasha voice wore out. She ungracefully shed her jacket and pulled a small electronic device out of her pocket.

And she sighed heavily.

“Give me the drive,” she said. “Let’s find Steve.”


	3. Curse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's natural and sensible to consider how Nat can be supportive of Bucky at this point, so early in his recovery. 
> 
> But what about the ways Bucky could try to support Nat in her journey right now?

A large group of Avengers and Guardians prepare for a meeting with T’Challa’s lieutenants, to pool their intel and try to see a bigger picture. 

Before the meeting starts, Nat sees Bruce for the first time, and follows him pacing down a hallway.

“Bruce,” she says with some hesitation. “It’s so good to see-”

“Is this about the mission?” Bruce interrupts.

“Uh,” Nat stammers briefly before recovering. “No, I just wanted-”

“Then I don’t care.”

Nat is stunned silent.

“I’m not looking for friends,” Bruce continues. “Certainly not ones I can’t trust. Can’t respect.”

“I…” It comes out of her as a grunt as much as a word.

“I’m not staying so don’t bother,” he continues. “I’m here to solve a problem. There are plenty of places I can be that aren’t this rock… places where I don’t have to tread so carefully.”

Bruce walks away.

Nat is clearly stung. But she makes an effort to quickly recover as she senses someone approaching.

The person approaching is Bucky. He notices a flash of her hiding something before she gets a more stoic demeanor into place. And he eyes Bruce just as Bruce disappears down the hall.

Nat finds her stone face before Bucky finds any words, and looks at him expectantly.

Bucky looks down at a flash drive in his hand. “Steve... wants this looked at. Before we start.”

Nat takes the flash drive from his hand and walks a few feet back down a side hall until she finds the room with their assigned computer terminals. 

She does her work with what passes for absentmindedness for her. Bucky keeps surreptitiously looking at her, gauging her expressions, seemingly searching for something. He looked slightly concerned.

After a few minutes, she speaks of the data with him, coming to some useful but not earth-shattering conclusions.

Bucky nods, something else still on his mind. He looks worried about her.

When she comes to a lull in her conversation about the data, he speaks.

“He’s important to you,” Bucky says. “This… uh, Dr. Banner.”

At his words, she turns to assess him. She studies him with a measured, thoughtful gaze.

Finally she speaks with an understated directness.

“Whatever they’re telling you about the importance of connecting to other people, feeling human again... feeling again…” She nods and her voice rings with certitude and importance. “They’re lying. It’s a terrible idea.”

She turns back to gaze past the screen.

He nods gravely. “Yeah. I figured that part was all a scam.”

A small smile crosses her face, and then leaves again.

“Better to be marble?” he inquires gently.

At that, she looks at him directly again. His eyes are sad and knowing.

Marble, that’s what they called her back in the day. It was probably what they told him about her before they met. 

He remembers.

Her eyes focus on something in the past.

“No. Nothing is worth that.” Nat clears her throat. “But apparently loving me is still a curse.”

“If he really thinks that then he's dead wrong,” Bucky says quietly. 

She freezes as she takes in his words.

“I'm a better man than I was. After... what? A few weeks together? A decade ago?”

She slowly dares to look at him again. 

“Fifteen,” she whispers. “Fifteen years ago.”

He nods again. “If he doesn't realize that about himself too,” Bucky says, “then he’s not in his right mind.”

She clearly works hard to manage a neutral face, and mostly succeeds.

“And I mean,” he continues. “Coming from me, that’s pretty damning.”

She smiles tightly.

She removes the flash drive from the computer and quickly leads them both back to the main room, where other people mill around.

Neither of them mention the conversation again.


	4. Nick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ... so what has Nick Fury been up to? 
> 
> And what does he know about the Winter Soldier?

Only a few key players on Earth know that Thanos is just about to make his move to attack.

And Nick Fury is one of them. 

For years, Nick’s been behind the scenes, pulling strings, making arrangements, lining up some heavy hardware for them to use. 

But there isn’t much time left.

So we watch him quickly track down various Avengers, filling them in and setting them on new missions. 

Now, he’s shown up in Wakanda… where, it turns out, T’Challa greets him as a political ally. 

Nick fills in the king. T’Challa leaves to swing his own major plans into action. Nick has only a few minutes to meet with Steve and Bucky.

“Well,” Nick says as he shakes Steve’s hand. “Are you done with this little vacation of yours? Get your summer reading in? Get yourself a tan?”

“Fury, good to see you,” Steve says warmly. “How have you been?”

“I’d be better if somebody named Death wasn’t about to swing by for some late night drive thru.” 

Nick fills them in quickly, telling them what they need to know about the plan. Steve is attentive and asks clarifying questions. Bucky is uncomfortable and silent, but clearly listening carefully.

Steve is to join a larger group and lead part of them in a direct assault on forces that will arrive on the planet. Nick will be slipping in more quietly for a surgical attack on a critical target.

Nick explains the task he’ll be undertaking.

“And you’re doing that alone?” Steve asks cautiously.

“Not quite. It’s more of a two-person job. I’m gonna need somebody almost as good as me to cover my six while I do this.”

Nick looks at Bucky. Bucky looks deeply confused, almost as if he might say no.

“What’s wrong?” Nick asks. “You think you can get a better date to this dance?”

Bucky searches for words. “I... just figured… that you’d prefer to work someone who hadn’t ever... riddled you with bullets.”

“Well,” Nick shrugs and casually throws his hands up. “How boring would that be?”

Bucky sighs uncomfortably and Steve chuckles. But Bucky still stands there, noncommittally.

“Alright,” Nick says. “You want a serious answer. And you deserve one. First of all, there’s only a couple of people on this planet who are capable of getting that many bullets into me. So I’m gonna respect that skill and hope you now choose to help me with it.”

Bucky looks slightly more comfortable. It’s a reason he can wrap his head around.

“And second,” Nick continues. “You and I have a mutual old friend.” He pauses meaningfully. “And I’m talking about somebody prettier than this one here.” Nick points at Steve.

Steve gets a curious look, while Bucky’s eyes get very wary.

“And she told me,” Nick says, “a long time ago, that when your head’s on straight, you’ve got a heart that she trusts.”

Bucky looks a bit like he’s trying to hold back some emotions. Steve looks very concerned, but doesn’t butt in.

“Now, considering the source, that’s some high praise,” said Nick. “Are you gonna make a liar out of her?”

Bucky grabs his gear and follows Nick.

 

-=-=-=-=-  
  


The fight unfolds. 

Nat and Bucky run into each other midbattle, but generally have tense, uneventful interactions. There’s glances that linger half a second here and there, but there’s work to do.

 

-=-=-=-=-

  
The climax of the story comes and goes, but the battle isn’t over.

As the movie wraps up, and the remaining/surviving Avengers decide what to do next, Bucky and Natasha’s plans just casually happen to involve working with each other.

They look at each other meaningfully. But neither one of them mentions why.

They go about getting business done.


	5. A Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A well-placed "Natalia" needs no set-up, but they could give it more context if they wanted to...

Wanda and Vision have been on the run together for a while. Recently the threat level heightened, and now Steve and Nat stay close too… very close.

Nat’s voice crackled through their earpieces.

“You know your cover is more believable,” Nat offered, “when you don’t pause before saying your own name.”

Wanda replied as she sank into the cafe chair. “The trouble being that it is NOT my own name.”

“Darling.” Vision sat down next to her and patted her hand in an understanding way. “I’m under the impression that’s the point of what we’re doing. Remaining unseen and unidentifiable. For your protection as well as mine.”

Wanda responded with a softened voice. “Vizh, I understand why you might not have any emotional connection to your name. But mine is very important to me. It’s all I have left of my family. And I’m simply weary of denying it this long. We’ve been on the run for ages.”

“Think of it as so important, it needs to be kept safe,” Steve offered, sipping coffee at the bar and pretending to talk to Nat next to him.

Wanda sighed and some heat returned to her voice. “Yes, I will do that. I’m not a child or a liability. I know what we need to accomplish.”

“Look, I know it can be tough getting used to this kind of long-term duplicity...” Nat said absentmindedly.

“Do you really know that?” Wanda challenged. “Do you find duplicity difficult at all?”

Steve looked like he might speak, but Nat waved him silent.

And she spoke more honestly.

“No, you’re right. I really don’t. I started using aliases at seven. I haven’t gone by my birth name in 15 years.”

“You’re Russian, Agent Romanova,” Wanda said, needling her. “Surely your given names mean something to you. Or did, at some point in the past.”

“You and I have very different experiences of where we came from. Maria.” Nat said pointedly.

“Did no one important to you ever call you by your birth name?” Wanda asked.

Nat’s eyes clouded. She paused a beat.

“Someone did, yes.”

Wanda looked tired, and sad. “Do you ever wish you could hear them say it again?”

Steve looked at Nat. She sat tall, but looked at her own lap.

“Yes,” she said quietly.

They all sat a moment and drank their drinks.

Wanda eventually spoke. “Thank you for that.”

“You’re welcome,” Nat said tightly. “We should get a move on.”

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

Much later in the film.

Steve, Bucky, Nat and Sam traveled to Wakanda and fought alongside T’Challa’s army. 

Mid-battle, Nat caught a bad hit directly to her abdomen, and howled. She took out her opponent, and then she slumped down, suddenly unable to keep her feet.

“Natalia! NATALIA!”

From out of nowhere, Bucky was there, aware that she’d been injured. He took out two enemy combatants nearby, then pulled her behind some protection and started scanning her and assessing the wound. Then he looked to her face to see if she was conscious.

“... Romanoff?” He questioned.

Nat couldn’t focus well but she puffed out a small laugh. 

“Romanoff,” she scoffed. “Good. Good cover, you’re good. Nobody noticed...”

“Shhhh.” He looked gravely at the wound. “You got hit, I freaked out.”

“Idiot,” she breathed.

“Save the yelling. You can do it later.”

“It’s bad.”

“Yeah,” he said, looking at the wound and wincing. “Yeah, it is. But I’ve got a well-deserved ass-kicking coming from you later. So… so just hang on.”

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Bucky got her evacuated from the field and in the hands of medical personnel. Nat survived. They don’t explicitly discuss anything else on screen but he assists her in getting around wounded as the remaining Avengers gather and plan to continue the next steps of the war.


	6. Come Get Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I've often asked myself, what's the quickest, easiest way for Nat to accurately ascertain what Bucky remembers?

“I’ll go with her,” Bucky said. It was the first thing he’d said all through their planning and strategizing, and it rang out loudly through the bay of the plane.

“No,” Steve said. “It’ll take two of us to get our job done. She can get in by herself.”

“In, yes,” Bucky replied. “But getting out of that? She needs back up.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Steve continued.

“That’s not a bridge. That’s her trapped deep in enemy-held territory with no exit strategy.”

Bucky looked around at Sam, Steve, and the others, while Nat calmly strapped on more weapons and a parachute. Most looked at him strangely - they all had more reason than object than he did. They all knew her better. He’d barely ever spoken to her.

“This is a suicide mission,” he whispered.

Bucky was strangely, terribly upset, taking bigger and bigger gulps of hair and running a hand repeatedly through his hair. He was also not looking at Nat at all.

Until she quietly walked up to him, searched his face with a business-like expression on her own, and then brought his lips to hers for a kiss. 

He was startled, at first. Then he kissed her back. Fiercely, hungrily.

They pulled away… Nat looking like she was still making a decision, weighing something between them. 

“Come get me when you’re done.” She called directly to Bucky as she backed away. 

She had to raise her voice to a shout to be heard as she approached the open bay of the aircraft. “And maybe then we’ll stop avoiding each other.”

Then she jumped.

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

Bucky piloted the stolen chopper with a grim, determined face... scouring the area where he hoped she would be, until he found Nat waiting.

He landed as quickly and as closely as he could.

“Thanks for coming to get me,” she called out as she strapped herself in and they took off again.

They exchanged a long, complicated look.

“Anytime,” he replied cautiously, as he piloted them away.


	7. Recruitment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somebody is gonna have to review the basic Infinity Stone concept at some point, to remind old fans and bring new viewers up to speed. Why not use that time to layer in some subtext?

_A hot day near the Wakandan border._

“Miss Romanoff,” T’Challa announced, as Nat stood before the extensive security force around him. “How electrifying to see you again.”

“Your highness,” she replied.

“Did you penetrate our border defenses for any particular reason?” T'Challa asked.

“Yes, your highness,” Nat said. “I came to bring you stolen, top secret intelligence.”

T’Challa raised an eyebrow.

“And I have hopes,” Nat continued, “that I can recruit you to help us save the planet, and perhaps the universe.”

They both examined each other.

“Ideally,” she said “I’ll be bringing our two mutual super soldier friends to the party as well. And her highness, your sister.”

“Come with me,” T’Challa said in a measured tone.

 

-=-=-=-=-

 

In a secured room, Nat met with Shuri, T’Challa, Steve, Bucky and other Wakandan leadership. 

Nat began a brief presentation.

“The Avengers learned some time ago of a group of powerful artifacts called the Infinity Stones.”

The screen in front of them flickered with Nat’s gathered footage of a familiar blue glowing cube.

“The one we know the most about is the Tesseract,” Nat continued. “It was apparently on earth for centuries, protected by a secret society, until the Red Skull found it in 1941 and - using its power - nearly took over the world.”

“He made weapons from it,” Bucky remembered, shivering at the blue light. “Or Zola did. Bigger and bigger ones.”

Nat looked at him very sadly.

Bucky shook his head. “The smallest firearms he made could wipe out tanks, the biggest ones whole platoons. Men just… disappeared in front of you.”

Nat nodded sympathetically. “The Tesseract has certain powers related to bending space,” she explained. “The people and tanks that disappeared may have been destroyed by the sheer power of the stone. Or they may have been sucked through a spontaneously created wormhole in space, and ended up in another part of the universe.”

“Like the wormhole the Chitauri used to invade,” Steve offered.

“Exactly,” Nat answered, as she turned to T’Challa. “Allied Forces -- namely, Steve -- got the tesseract away from Red Skull in 1945. From there, SHIELD kept and studied the stone for decades. Eventually Loki used it to open a wormhole and escort an alien army through, which the Avengers repelled at the Battle of New York.”

T‘Challa nodded. “I know of this battle.”

“That’s what one stone, alone, is capable of,” Nat clarified, as she looked around the room.

“How many stones are there?” Bucky asked.

“Six,” Nat replied. “We believe an off-world hostile named Thanos may already have anywhere from two to four of them… including the Tesseract.”

“Vision?” Steve said worriedly.

“Vision is safe,” Nat assured him, then she explained to the others. “The Avenger named Vision carries one of the six - the Mind Stone  - as a part of his person at all times. The mind stone’s ability to shape mental energy is… a bit more complicated to get a grasp on. That’s one of two stones that we know Thanos doesn’t have.”

“And the other that we know he doesn’t have is where exactly?” Shuri asked.

Nat nodded. “The other is in the care of someone who we’ve approached, and are working closely with on security. That stone… controls time.”

“Shit,” Bucky said.

“These six stones were created together,” Nat said. “Any one of them can do untold damage. But when they’re joined… the consequences could be catastrophic at the universal level.”

“The universe,” Bucky said, stunned. “The entire universe? Reality, you’re talking about... all of reality.”

Another look passes between Nat and Bucky, and for a split second they seem at a loss for words.

“What kind of a being would actually want to destroy reality?” Steve asked.

“I haven’t gone into our intel on Thanos himself,” Nat replied. “There’s not a lot we know, honestly. But his personal powers even without the stones suggest that he could survive such an event.”

“Is he immortal?” Steve asked.

“Probably. So yes, it’s possible his agenda could include that level of destruction. But at the very least…”

“At the very least, Earth is at risk,” Bucky said. “if we’ve got two stones here.”

“Nat,” Steve said, “with what he’s got, could he just… blink us all out of existence? Or blow up the planet, and pull the stones out of the wreckage? Do we know he’s coming for the remaining stones first, before trying to eliminate us?”

“With the power these two stones give the people who hold them, his better bet is to get to them first. Which is why top-level security is already crawling all over both of them.”

“The Avengers specifically have been an obstacle to him before,” T’Challa said.

Nat met his eye with conviction. “Yes.”

“A creature of this magnitude gets thwarted by beings he believes so far beneath him…” T’Challa mused.

“Yes,” Nat said. “He’s likely coming for the Avengers, specifically.”

“So he’s the grudge-holding type,” Bucky said. “Who, specifically, fought against him before?”

“Steve, Tony, Clint and myself, our offworld friend Thor, and Dr. Bruce Banner.” Nat’s voice wavered only a tiny bit at the last name. Most probably wouldn’t have noticed. It seemed to catch Bucky’s attention, and he watched her face for some time while the conversation continued.

“Do we know where Bruce and Thor are?” Steve asked.

“Tony says he’s got them,” Nat said. She notices Bucky watching her.

“Alright, what’s the plan?” Steve asked.

A group discussion ensues and a plan is made.

 

-=-=-=-

 

When we return to Nat and Bucky, they’re on a Quinjet, en route to a stone.

They’re both inspecting the contents of a cache of weapons and a nearby gun locker. Nat appears to be looking for something.

Bucky reaches in and picks something up to hand to her.

“Still favor those snubnose weapons?” he said.

“They’re called handguns,” Nat needled as she took the weapon. “And if your aim is any good, you don’t need anything else.”

“Unless you’re outside its optimal range,” he said.

“Where’s the fun in that?” she answered.

Bucky softly smiled at her.


	8. Not The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just to prepare you, the tone here is short, fast and heart-stopping.

Corvus Glaive - a warrior with immense and terrifying power - lays waste to a parcel of land where several Avengers had just stood. 

Those on the periphery - Nat to the west, Sam on the south, Peter and Strange from above and Mantis and Wanda on the ground on the north side - are all thrown clear from the wreckage, while a bolt of power brought down by Thanos decimates Tony, Bruce, and Rhodey in the center of the blast area.

Peter cries out in anguish.

Strange says, “Protect them! They’re not dead!” and flies off.

Glaive is distracted throwing Peter around, long enough for Strange to engage the time stone he still has. And time reverses itself. 

Then the last few minutes start again from scratch.

 

The second time through, Peter and Strange reposition themselves and are able to deflect part of the blast. This time, the Avengers below them appear to survive.

In the intervening time, however, Bucky and Steve arrive on the scene, and both are caught by an unpredictable stray ray of power. The blow is clearly fatal to them both. Tony and Natasha in particular are seen looking on in horror.

Strange tries again.

 

In the third time through this moment, he rescues everyone previously killed with a move that both minimizes the blast and redirects it to the southwest. 

Natasha is not directly hit by the initial blow, but she is thrown wide. When she lands, Bucky and Steve see her, and run to help. Bucky closes the distance first, as it becomes clear that debris has pierced her abdomen, mortally injuring her. 

“No, no, no no NO!” Bucky cries as he races to reach her quickly.

He reaches to brush her hair out of her face and they both realize she’s bleeding far too heavily to stop.

She looks up at him with a gaze of recognition.

“No,” Bucky croaks. “No, Natalia, we don’t end like this. Not like this. NATALIA!”

As she stops moving, the view pulls back, and we see Steve on his knees, devastated, a few yards away, and Strange gearing up to use the stone again.

 

This time - the fourth time through this moment - Strange’s plan is in place. He and Peter pre-emptively stop Glaive as he prepares a blow. When Tony sees what’s happening, he’s able to join in. 

Together they turn the bulk of the blow back onto Glaive directly and defeat him. There are no Avengers casualties.

The various Avengers have little time to interact, but go immediately to fight other hostiles.

Nat and Bucky don’t interact again during the film.


	9. Compliance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's a quick and painful one...

Things were safe and quiet at their position for now, but they wouldn't be for long. So, the Avengers did what they could to prepare.

Steve, Bucky and Nat were in an elevator, traveling from one strategy meeting to another. 

Nat stood at attention, with her back to the back wall. She faced Bucky in front of her and the doors in front of him. Bucky was turned to the side wall, where Steve leaned, facing them both.

“How long do we have?” Bucky said.

“About ten minutes,” Steve replied.

Bucky nodded thoughtfully. Then he hit the emergency stop.

Steve looked curious and a bit concerned. Nat had a knowing but wary look on her face.

“I remember attacking you in Berlin,” Bucky said to the floor.

The edge came off of Steve's concern, as he thought he understood what Bucky was processing. Nat’s face remained unchanged.

“I remember shooting you in D.C,” Bucky continued.

Nat and Steve were silent.

“I remember…” Bucky's jaw tightened. “Odessa.” 

He pursed his lips together. Nat’s breath caught for just an instant. 

“But there was something before that,” Bucky said softly. “Something very different.” 

He finally looked into her eyes, and he nodded his head. “Wasn’t there?”

It felt like everyone in the elevator stopped breathing.

Nat nodded back.

“I can’t get to it,” Bucky said. “I try to remember and I…” He grimaced and shook his head.

Her tone was sad, and oddly patient. “They used an experimental technique on those memories, on top of your usual wipe. It was more targeted,” she said. “And more brutal.”

“How do you know that?” Bucky asked her.

Her mouth drew tight. “I watched it,” she said in a hollow, neutral voice.

In the background, Steve swayed subtly with the weight of new understanding.

Bucky’s eyes were wide, and searched her face for answers. “Why was it so important that I not remember this part?”

She screwed her mouth up. Nat took a long breath in, and slowly let it out, clearly trying to keep her composure.

Finally she looked him in the eyes again, and managed to speak.

“Because your continued compliance relied heavily on you forgetting me.”

Suddenly, something in the building rocked the elevator shaft. Rather than restart it, they pried open the door easily and hopped to the nearest floor to investigate.

They don’t speak again during the film.


	10. Looking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I have to end with some closure, quick as it may be.

By all accounts, they were in trouble. Thanos hadn't even shown his face yet, and the collected force against them was enormous, and terrifying. 

So many of the heroes’ resources had already fallen away - weaponry, advantages, comrades. 

But there was a battle to keep fighting.

After fending off one wave of forces to hit Wakanda, T’Challa’s army had held the line and protected key civilian areas. 

Steve, Nat and Bucky prepared for a trip behind enemy lines.

They gathered around a work surface. They took stock and reloaded their weapons, and they started planning. Steve offered an idea. He’d bottleneck oncoming forces in one direction while Nat zeroed in on a critical target the other way. 

Nat heard his idea, and nodded.

“Bucky,” Steve concluded. “Cover her six. It’s heavily fortified, you’ll need two set of eyes. Get her in and out.”

Bucky looked like he would object or disagree. But before he could speak, Nat interjects. 

“Good plan,” she said, and she prepared to head out.

Bucky’s mouth hung open. He looked Steve in the eye, but hadn’t met Nat’s gaze at all. 

Steve looked for a second like he wanted to address the tension, but decided against it. Steve’s thoughts played across his face… Bucky had taken in stride working with his previous victims before. Better to ignore it, push through it, and it’ll smooth out. 

While Bucky held back from objecting outright to working with Nat, he still didn’t pick up his gun. He didn’t move. 

So Nat made a decision. 

She came back to stand next to Bucky. She looked to Steve as she removed her own earpiece connecting their communication to the rest of the heroes.  Steve took the hint, and removed his own.

Bucky watched only Steve’s actions and guessed what was going on. He looked nearly panicked, but he removed his earpiece too.

He stared at the table while Nat stared at his arm and spoke.

"I went looking for you,” she said quietly.

There was a strange weight in the air around them.   
  
“This was before you found me in Odessa.” She stopped to swallow, hard. “It was just after…”

Her posture didn’t change, she barely moved. But the expression of grace and composure she usually carried into battle completely and suddenly cracked. She was clearly trying not to cry.

“It was after we were separated,” she said. She looked a bit relieved to get the phrase out, to clearly name a certain point in time.   
  
“I knew they'd wipe your memories of us,” she said with a sad assurance. “I knew that would be part of your punishment. Just like remembering it all was a part of mine.”

“Natalia-” Bucky interjected.   
  
“But I thought if I worked fast enough, I thought if I found you quickly enough-” The words rushed out of her. 

And then she hit another obstacle, reaching another truth that she struggled to say. She groped for words out of all the invisible muck that weighed down on them.

“With only a wipe or two done…” she spoke, “I was sure I could fix it. I could reconstruct us. Or at least you. If I just got my hands on you.”

Bucky closed his eyes to his tears. Steve held his breath in shock.   
  
“If there was just a wipe or two,” she continued. “Or three. Or four.”

She got a ragged breath.

“Or five. I didn’t know what the magic number might be. But I kept looking for you.” 

There was an old, hard rage that shivered in her then, at the center of her.

“It took over my life,” she said plaintively. At that, Nat turned her unfocused gaze in Steve’s direction, though she couldn’t quite meet him in the eye.

Again, the words came up out of her… this time quiet and helpless and raw. 

“I had to be convinced,” she said. “By a friend.”

An old wound was open now.

“The trail was too cold. They hid you too well,” she said. 

Her voice went hollow.

“I just wasn't gonna win that one.”

She took one step closer into him. Her whole body tensed with a clear desire to reach for him, but she held back.

“Odessa wasn’t your failure,” Natasha insisted. “It was mine.”

She immediately put her earpiece back in, and turned halfway away from them to compose herself. Bucky again moved to say something… but held back.

Finally she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “Now come cover me, asshole,” she said.

And she walked out the door. 

Bucky and Steve exchanged a very complicated glance. 

But by the time Nat left the perimeter of their shelter, Steve was in route to his bottleneck position. And Bucky was right behind her, covering her back.

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

The battle was hard, and costly. But it was won.

The heroes gathered together, tended wounds and helped civilians.

Bucky took a break and sat, staring tiredly at the ground.

Clint was some distance away and from his perspective, he watched Nat slowly approach Barnes. Barnes sat up and had a strange look on his face as Nat cautiously sat down. The two talked for some time.


End file.
